Apple quietly introduced code into iOS 18.1 which reboots the device if it has not been unlocked for a period of time, reverting it to a state which improves the security of iPhones overall and is making it harder for police to break into the devices, according to multiple iPhone security experts.
On Thursday, 404 Media reported that law enforcement officials were freaking out that iPhones which had been stored for examination were mysteriously rebooting themselves. At the time the cause was unclear, with the officials only able to speculate why they were being locked out of the devices. Now a day later, the potential reason why is coming into view.
“Apple indeed added a feature called ‘inactivity reboot’ in iOS 18.1.,” Dr.-Ing. Jiska Classen, a research group leader at the Hasso Plattner Institute, tweeted after 404 Media published on Thursday along with screenshots that they presented as the relevant pieces of code.
Not that hard to deal with honestly. Rebooting at night which I’m sleeping does not reduces any functionality, cuz I’m not using it. If someone needs to find me during the night he better call me cuz I won’t wake up by notification which is also suppressed by DND. Yeah it is not design for security but a solution better than none.
Furthermore, rebooting the device periodically is good for security, especially for non-persistent fileless malware.